MG Marvel R Performance review: luxury with lots of space?

MG is a well-known car brand from England, but it has become very quiet in recent years. By 2008, SAIC bought the car brand there. Who exactly is SAIC? None other than one of the largest car manufacturers from China! my test

SAIC proalso dues for Volkswagen in Asia. MG has been back on the European market since 2021, because MG wants to sell purely electric vehicles at a good price. We have the MG Marvel R Electric tested in the performance version. How did we like him? You will find out in the following article!

Now to write more about the car itself: The MG Marvel R is a large SUV. An electric SUV, to be more precise. In the performance version, this is driven by three electric motors. These bring a maximum torque of 665 Newton meters to the road. Expressed in kilowatts, that would be 218 kilowatts, or 288 hp in old currency. That's a good number for the size of the Marvel R. It even has a 2-speed automatic transmission, which is something you rarely see in electric cars. But let's get to the design first.

Design: Long light strips are no longer a unique selling point

Nevertheless, you can see from the MG Marvel R that they tried to give it a unique selling point. However, you see elongated light strips more and more often, be it at Mercedes-Benz, Cupra or now even at VW. I liked the design anyway, as I'm a fan of elongated light strips. It's not to everyone's taste, I can understand, but somehow it creates a kind of "unique selling point". In everyday life, you would probably still confuse it with one of the brands mentioned at night.

Interior: Very luxurious & well finished

Inside the Marvel R you immediately feel comfortable. Comfortable seats with seat heating and even seat ventilation. A huge infotainment screen, and much more, such as good ambient lighting. During the test period of 10 days, we did not find any quality defects. Everything felt very valuable and was in no way inferior to the German manufacturers.

Even the glove compartment was lined with a material similar to velvet. You see that really very rarely in this price category. There was still enough space in the rear seats to be able to sit comfortably if two people 1,80 meters tall were sitting in the front. The front seats were both electrically adjustable on our performance version. The doors are also lined with a very comfortable fabric. MG has really done a great job here, where one or the other manufacturer could learn a lesson with a lot of piano lacquer.

Infotainment: Still a bit sluggish, but the scope is right

MG advertises the large 19-inch (approx. 48 centimeters) infotainment screen in the Marvel R. Unfortunately, this is not entirely true. The screen is very large, yes, that's right. But it's not 19 inches. I would say more like 15 inches. The 19 inches refer to the touch buttons that can be found underneath. Clever marketing, definitely.

So we come to my favorite point, the infotainment. In addition to reasonable charging planning for long-distance journeys, this must also offer good DAB and radio functions, as well as a streaming option at the price point. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto should also be there, but also wireless? I'll come back to this point later. The infotainment in the MG Marvel R is called "MG iSMART". Is it really that smart? Something I would say. In addition to very good DAB and radio (FM) reception, it also offers the option of registering for your Amazon Music Unlimited subscription and then listening to music directly from the car without a player.

One looks in vain for an e-route planner, as some call it. It would be nice to have a built-in system without third-party providers via Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. But let's come to the last two options: both only work with the MG Marvel R via cable. The connection worked smoothly with various Android phones. With the iPhone, it didn't work at all with one device, with another then without Prostated problems.

The MG Marvel R in the Performance variant also offers a 360-degree camera with various viewing angles, including a rim view for safe parking on curbs. On the whole it's become a solid infotainment system. Which can also display the weather at the current departure point. In addition, it runs relatively well and the operation is actually relatively easy in everyday life. The ambient lighting can even flash to the beat of the music. Or just pulsate.

Driving impression: very comfortable gliding

This is the best way to summarize the driving impression. The chassis does a very good job of not having to feel every pebble when driving. The acceleration is also more than sufficient: in Sport+ mode, all three engines switch to their maximum power and the MG Marvel R Performance catapults forward very quickly for such a large SUV of less than 60.000 euros. This is also a main focus for all-electric vehicles. The brute performance that can be called up immediately.

The steering does what it should. It's not too stiff or too easy. A good midfield and fun to drive. All in all, the MG Marvel R doesn't promise too much with the performance version. Just towing trailers could be difficult. Braked and unbraked are currently only 750 kg possible.

Charging & Range: Charging speed could be better

The loading speed is likely to be one of the major criticisms of the MG Marvel R. With 94 kW DC, the MG Marvel R charges from 20 Procent to 80 Procent on average again. But only if the battery has been well preheated. With a battery size of 70 kilowatt hours, you could easily go to 130 kilowatts DC. After all, at high Procent numbers are still charged with up to 30 kilowatts. The range in winter is around 300 km with normal driving. In summer you should be able to cover 380 to 400 kilometers. Our consumption leveled off at around 22 to 23 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers. These are good values ​​for the size and weight.

After all, with AC, it charges constantly with 11 kilowatts without crashes or other abnormalities. The heat pump for preheating the battery can be activated manually via a menu item. Here it would be nice if it were activated automatically as soon as you have selected a fast loader in the navigation system.

Vehicle-to-Load: MG offers it!

Yes read correctly. The well-known V2L technology is offered by MG. With a special adapter, the battery in the MG Marvel R can be used to charge other items, such as e-bikes or e-scooters, or simply to make coffee in the trunk. Unfortunately, we could not do this due to the lack of an adapterprobeer But we think it should work fine.

Sound system: Bose delivers well

A Bose loudspeaker system is used in the MG Marvel R Performance. This ensures a good sound with good bass. Absolutely fine for the price range! The EQ can be adjusted in the system to your own preferences. Nothing creaks or rattles, even at the highest bass setting. That's already very good! Since we have only heard one other Bose sound system so far, namely in the Hyundai IONIQ 5, we can agree with the result: The system is in no way inferior to that in the IONIQ 5.

Conclusion: A very good electric SUV with a few weaknesses

Yes, that's right! MG has managed to bring a very good price-performance technical electric SUV onto the market. There is absolutely nothing to complain about in the interior. The software alone still needs some work. Then rather a slightly smaller screen and concentrate on better software. With eg wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto. The drive in the MG Marvel R Performance does a very good job. The car is definitely not underpowered. Only the towing capacity might complicate the purchase for some. Or the somewhat low charging capacity of 94 kilowatts DC at peak. And then there is a really good electric SUV on the market for the price of around 50.000 euros.

We are definitely very excited to see how MG will continue to develop in the future. The MG 4 could cause a real stir in the small car segment. We'll try to test it for you soon!

Recommendations for you

• MG4 Luxury review: compact electric car with British roots
• Toyota bZ4X review: Finally fully electric, but also good?
• BMW iX1 xDrive30 review: The smallest E-SUV from Bavaria review
• Smart #1 Brabus review: Unremarkably sporty